University of Waterloo launches Future Cities Institute

The University of Waterloo will use one of the biggest donations it has ever received for a new think tank called The Future Cities Institute.

With $10 million from The Caivan Group, an Ottawa-based real estate developer, the university announced the founding of the new institute Wednesday.

The institute’s first director is Leia Minaker, a UW urban planner who also has a PhD in public health.

There is no shortage of challenges that need attention, said Minaker, including the climate crisis, health care and economic development.

“We need transformative action in these different areas,” Minaker said during an interview in advance of Wednesday’s announcement.

Minaker’s research has focused on healthy cities, food supplies and the impact of urban design on mental health.

She led UW’s healthy cities initiative, and will now have more resources and support for her work as director of The Future Cities Institute.

The first research priorities for the institute are housing, and computer modelling that uses expertise from different disciplines to plan future cities.

“The idea there is that we have so much skill and capacity for using big data, analytics, AI and optimization algorithms, but we are not exploring how to optimize urban development,” said Minaker.

That kind of modelling can be used to design and build communities that maximize the use of public transit, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen social connections among neighbours, said Minaker.

“Cities have tonnes of potential,” said Minaker. “They are also places full of challenges that need to be addressed with creative problem solving.”

She’s watched encampments of unhoused people spread around the region as new highrise developments dot the skyline.

The housing affordability crisis, an aging population, a health-care system that struggles to meet demands and replacing old infrastructure are among the research priorities, she said.

More people than ever before live in cities, but voter turnout for municipal elections is lower than provincial and federal ones.

“All of us are impacted by municipal decision-making in ways we are not affected by provincial and federal decisions,” said Minaker.

Cities produce most of the greenhouse gas emissions causing the climate crisis, and if buyers are not willing to pay more for sustainable homes then governments should regulate the developers, she said.

Environmental, economic and social sustainability are possible with changes in policy, said Minaker, but public and private sectors have to work together.

Singapore and Copenhagen are good models for sustainable, 21st century urban development, she said.

The new institute was launched Wednesday afternoon when UW President Vivek Goel spoke with Caivan co-founder and chief executive officer Frank Cairo onstage at Federation Hall.

Cities have tonnes of potential. They are also places full of challenges that need to be addressed with creative problem solving.

LEIA MINAKER THE FUTURE CITIES INSTITUTE DIRECTOR